Air conditioner and air compressor



June I3, 1944. o, KLQTZ I 2,351,437

AIR CONDITIONER AND AIR COMPRESSOR Filed June 20, 1941 INVENTOR AT TOHNE Y Patented June 13, 1944 UNITED I STATES PATENT OFFICE AIR CONDITIONER. AND AIR COMPRESSOR Otto H. Klotz, Philadelphia, Pa.

Application June 20, 1941, Serial No. 398,893

2 Claims.

In the dispensing of beer, it is necessary after a keg is tapped that air pressure be immediately applied to the keg, andto have such air pressure applied until the keg is empty. The air should have the impurities removed from it, and this is done by a washing or scrubbing operation.

The object of this invention is to devise a novel air conditioner and air compressor which can be economically manufactured, which is positive in action and automatically controlled, and which will maintain for a long period of time a constant supply of air under a desired pressure.

It has heretofore been proposed in devices of this general character, as in my prior Patent No. 2,214,792, where the air to be compressed 'is first washed, to employ the city water pressure as the compressing means, but this method is not satisfactory under all conditions, since, if the water pressure drops or a change is made in the beer dispensing equipment which requires a higher pressure, the requisite air pressure cannot be maintained.

My present invention does not depend on the city water pressure for the compressing operation,

but employs a motor driven, automatically con trolled pump, which may be of the turbine or centrifugal type.

With the above and other objects in view, as will hereinafter clearly appear, my invention comprehends a novel air conditioner and air compressor.

It further comprehends novel means to subject the air prior to being compressed to washing and rinsing operations.

It further comprehends novel means for passing the water and air into a storage tank to effeet a turbulence of the water and the effective washing of the air, and the circulation of the water from the tank through an injector at the suction side of the pump, provision being made for the removal from the tank of the impurities and foreign material separated from the air.

A further object of the invention is to so construct and arrange the parts that the load on the motor is materially reduced.

Other novel features of construction and advantage will be hereinafter set forth in the detailed description and the appended claims.

For the purpose of illustrating the invention, I have shown in the accompanying drawing typical embodiments of the invention which I have found in practice will give satisfactory and reliable results. It is however to be understood that such embodiments are typical only and that the various instrumentalities of which the invention a coupling for the pipe I6.

consists can be variously arranged and organized,

and that the invention is not limited to the exact arrangement and organization of these instrumentalities as herein set forth.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of an air conditioner and air compressor, embodying my invention.

Figure 2 is a sectional elevation of an injector employed.

Figure 3 is a sectional elevation, showing a portion of a tank, drainage fitting and discharge pipe on an enlarged scale.

Figure 4 is a side elevation of another embodiment of an injector which is employed with a centrifugal type pump.

Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts.

Referring to the drawing:

l designatesa supporting base or frame, on which an electric motor 2 is mounted, and the shaft of the motor drives a pump 3, of any desired or conventional construction.

The intake to the pump is connected to'the outlet from an injector 5, by a fitting 6, having its bore I, of reduced diameter, as at 8, and leading from a conical recess 9 opening through the inner end of the fitting. In alignment with the bore of the fitting is a conical valve l0, cooperating with a valve seat I I in proximity to the recess 9. If the capacity of the orifice of the valve is properly proportioned to the capacity of the pump, the valve can be omitted. As shown, the valve has its stem carried by a plug i2, in threaded engagement with the body portion. A passage 14 surrounds the valve stem, and leads froman intake passage 15 in communication with a pipe I6, leading from a storage tank [1.

The injector 5 has a lateral pipe or extension I8, connected with a conventional check valve, opening in the direction of flow, and connected with a bowed pipe 20, the free end of which is open to theatmosphere. The body portion of the injector surrounding the valve seat is cone shaped, as at 2|, and there is a clearance between the wallof the recess and the body portion. The intake end of the injector is threaded to receive The outlet passage 23 from the pump communicates with a T shaped fitting 24 having a manually actuated valve 25 for controlling the drainage from the tank IT. The fitting 24 is in threaded engagement with the pump housing and with the tank to support the latter. A discharge pipe 26 is threaded in the fitting and is in communication with the pump outlet 23. The pipe 26 has a clearance with the fitting to permit drainage water to pass around it and at its upper end it is deflected as at 21 so that a turbulence is given to the water pumped into the tank.

The tank has a manually actuated relief valve 28, an air gauge 29, and a valve controlled compressed air outlet 38. An automatic, pressure switch 3| for the motor is connected by a pipe 32 with the outlet from the pump.

In Figure 1, I have shown a turbine type pump and if a centrifugal type pump is to be used I preferably employ the type of injector shown in Figure 4. In this embodiment of injector two stages are employed due to the provision of two injectors 33 and 34, each being of the same construction as the injector shown in Figure 2. The return pipe Hi from the storage tank is connected with a T fitting 35, connected by a pipe line 38 with the injector 33, and by a pipe line 31 with the injector 34. The outlet from the injector '34 is connected by line 39 with the air intake extension 40 of the injector 33. The injector 34 has its air intake "4| connected with a check valve 42, connected with a pipe similar to the pipe 20.

The operation will now be apparent to those skilled in this art and is as follows:

'When the machine is first installed, it is primed by pouring water into the tank 11 through the air outlet 38 to 'fill the pump -3. The motor is then started to operate the pump, forcing the priming water into the storage tank. At the same time, wateris being withdrawn from the tank through pipe l8 and passes through theinjector to the intake of the pump. The priming water passing through the injector creates asuction to draw in air through the tube 20 and the check Valve IS. The tube 28 forms a-filling tube, and a bucket of water is placed up under the tube 20, and the water is drawn from the bucket into the pump and pumped into the storage tank. At the same time'the valve 28 is opened to permit theair to escape from the storage tank. As soon as water appears at the valve 28, the valve 28 is closed and the bucket withdrawn 'from the pipe 1 28. The pump continues to operate and sucks in air through the pipe 20 and injector 5, and delivers it to the storage tank, creating therein an air pressure which is indicated on the gauge 29. The pressure switch is set to stop or start the motor when the air :pressure in the storage tank varies from the standard of pressure for 'Which it is set.

The .injector 5 has a capacity to cooperate with the capacity of the pump, so that when the head pressure in'the tank is increased over that of the discharge from the pump, it will be exerted through the pipe I6 and injector 5 to deliver the water and air into the pump inlet with a. pressure. This action materially reduces the load on the motor. For example, if the head pressure was forty pounds and the return pressure on the pump thirty pounds, the load on the pump would only be approximately ten pounds.

In this machine, the air receives two washings and a rinsing. The air is first washed in the injector; next by working the air and water around in the pump; and rinsed by the agitation in the tank and by bubbling upwardly through the water in the tank. The impurities collected from the air are removed from the storage tank by opening the drainage valve so that the air pressure will force out the water. The air pressure in the tank decreases to the pressure for which the pressure switch 3l' is set, and the pump starts to operate forcing the water around within the tank so that the impurities are removed with the water. The upper end of the fitting 24 is higher than the upper end of the pipe l6 so that enough water is left in the tank for the self-priming of the pump. The valve 25 is now closed and a fresh bucket of water placed up under the pipe 28. The valve 28 is opened to let air escape from the tank, and as soon as water appears at the valve 28, such valve is closed, and the bucket removed. The pump continues to operate until the pressure in the storage tank increases to the standard for which the switch 'ditions. signed more particularlyforuse with a centrigual pump. The return from the storage tank through pipe l8 passes to the first injector 33 creating is set for the motor to stop.

The less the head pressure on a pump, the more Water it will deliver. The turbine type :pump

as 'shown in Fig. 1 will deliver water under a higher head pressure than acorresponding centrifugal type of pump working under equal con- The injector shown in Fig. 4 was dea vacuum therein, thus reducing the pressure at the discharge from .the injector 3-4. A high 'air pressure can be obtained with the pump laboring against a small difference of pressure between its'suction and discharge side.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to=secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In an air conditioner and air compressor. 'a motor driven pump, a compressed air storage tank. a valve controlled drainage passage from the tank, a return line from the tank, an in jector connecting the return line to the intake of the pump, and a pipe leading from the pump discharge into the bottom portion of the tank and having its free end laterally deflected where by, when the drainage valve is opened and the compressed air in the tank is forcing the liquid from it, a scouring action is affected on the walls of the tank.

2. In an air conditioner and air compressor,

a motor driven pump, a compressed air storage tank, a valved controlled drainagefitting opening into the bottom of the tank, a .returnline from the tank, an injector connecting the return line in the tank.

OTTO H. .KLQTZ. 

